Daemion McLean got a toy fire truck for Christmas present at 19

Daemion McLean vividly remembers the Christmas of 1998 when he was gifted with a toy fire truck, even though he would be considered a 'big man' at the time.

McLean was 19 and attending the Salvation Army School for the Blind. He smiled widely as he shared his Christmas I'll Never Forget memory.

"I thought it was cool. It was a joke that I shared with my friends, that it would be cool to get a fire truck that could drive and make noise. I didn't take it serious that someone would get it but when I got it, it was a nice surprise. Me did well excited over it at age 19 and even now," McLean said.

The now 41-year-old, who lost his sight before he was a teen, said he anticipated Christmas celebrations while at the School for the Blind. He shared that while he spent time with his family at their home in Catherine Hall, St James, for Christmas, it was a different atmosphere at school which he always looked forward to.

"We always had Christmas concert, carol service, gift giving and card exchange. I remember when we used to Braille our Christmas cards and give to our favourite people. We even had makeshift Santa Claus," he said.

McLean, the chairman for the Jamaica Society for the Blind, explained that the celebrations for the Yuletide season hold more significance for persons living with a disability. He said the season reminded him to maintain a spirit of thanksgiving and to be more appreciative of life.

"A person with disability may be less off than the average, so for them it is the time more persons will assist. 'Normal' persons see Christmas on a commercial side of things but persons with disabilities are able to appreciate help and you know what gratitude is. It is harder for the average person to have that experience because they take so much for granted," McLean explained.

He said this spirit of gratitude as well as the lessons he learnt about Christmas while at the School for the Blind, and ones he learnt from his parents, are what he will teach his two children.

"I will tell them to appreciate the good parts of Christmas and not to be taken up with the commercial part," he said.

McLean told THE STAR that the Christmas spirit still exists in Jamaica. But, he is hoping more Jamaicans will adopt a culture of giving during this period.

"I want people to share more. I want us to be more gentle towards each other. Christmas is a gentle time, it's a giving time. And we should work with the traditional Christmas of playing the carols. Christmas is a fun time and that's what I like about it," McLean said.